About Us

We are FRobotics. When we found out about FIRST FRC, we were motivated to start our own team. Our team was formed in the fall of 2011, and we have competed in the Pittsburgh/Western PA Regional twice so far. We are based out of Franklin Regional Senior High School. In our first year competing, we won the Coopertition Award and the Rookie Inspiration. In our second year, we were named “LabVIEW Ninjas” — one of Dr.T’s Top 10 LabVIEW teams and invited and participated in NI Week in Austin, Texas. What a huge honor!

Team History

FRobotics is a student-led organization formed by a group of like-minded students in 2011 at Franklin Regional High School. The team was awarded the Rookie Inspiration Award and the Coopertition Award at the Pittsburgh Regional in 2012, and has since grown to 45 members.

Community Involvement

FRobotics hosts a build season food drive, collecting hundreds of pounds of food for the local food bank. The team participates in the Relay for Life–fundraising for cancer research and leads the survivors lap! The team is currently fostering a relationship with a local nursing home, where the residents are treated to cookies and youth camaraderie.

Team Strengths

Because of FRobotics’s commitment to using/promoting LabVIEW, the team was named a LabVIEW Ninja as “Dr. T’s Ten” and awarded a $4,000 grant from NI in 2013. Three members attended the NI World conference last summer representing FRobotics.

Most Significant Challenge Overcome

FRobotics has experienced rapid growth this year, and it is a constant challenge to keep the team organized and focused. The team works hard to make sure everyone is welcome and has an equal opportunity to be involved and contribute to team success.

Robot and Game Strategy

In 2013, the team’s robot strategy was primarily offensive — quickly loading and shooting discs very consistently. In 2012, the strategy was defense and balancing, leading directly to the Coopertition Award.

Team Effort Promoting FIRST

The team has attended youth STEM events demonstrating the robot, like the Boy Scouts Learning of Life Engineering Camp and the Sloan Science Fair.

Goals for the Future

We hope to expand our food drive to be a Pittsburgh-wide challenge next year. We are looking into hosting an Eastern Suburbs Robot Fair in the Spring, and using that experience to launch an FLL team.